Slab gel electrophoresis is widely used for separating mixtures of chemical species, particularly complex species such as proteins, polypeptides, nucleic acids and oligonucleotides. Slab gels offer the advantage of allowing multiple samples to be analyzed simultaneously, and using the gels in a vertical orientation is beneficial for inserting samples in wells formed along the top edge, and for achieving fluid contact of the top and bottom edges of the gels with separate buffer solutions for the top and bottom electrodes respectively.
The need to keep the two buffer solutions separate from each other while achieving full liquid contact along both top and bottom edges of the gels has required complex apparatus and assembly procedures. Assembly of the cell prior to use and disassembly after use are both time consuming and prone to human error, raising the possibility of improper assembly and leakage, failed experiments and the resulting loss of valuable time, and the potential loss of samples.